Milton Friedman, wise and witty

John Hawkins has pulled together some excellent Milton Friedman quotations. I’m embarrassed to admit that, growing up in my Left wing, liberal arts enclave, I’d never heard of Friedman. I wonder if early exposure to his ideas (and his charm) would have lifted me out of the darkness sooner.

My favorite quotation from the Hawkins column is this one, which is the pithiest summary I can imagine for the beauty of a healthy marketplace:

“The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.”